Epimedium 101: Everything You Need to Know About the Shade-Tolerant Groundcover

Too often, the term “groundcover” elicits a yawn. These low-growing plants are viewed dismissively, either as an obligatory filler for blank spaces, or as an institutional camouflage for exposed soil. But with a little attention and the appropriate choice for your growing conditions, the right groundcover can be a source of exquisite horticultural interest in its own right. The heart-shaped, shingled leaves of shade-loving Epimediums are reason enough to grow them, but in spring they offer more: delicate spires of flowers that remain in bloom for almost a month, longer than many other flowering perennials. If you have a shade or woodland garden, a path or edge that needs sparkle, or a raised bed or terrace that can lift these delicate flowers to view, epimediums offer long-term reward, and ask for little in return.

Instead of buying bags of mulch to guard against weeds and conserve moisture in your shade garden, invest in a flock of epimediums—a living, blooming mulch, and a groundcover that returns every year.

Cheat Sheet

• Epimediums are low-growing perennials that flower for about a month in mid-spring.
• Their common names in English are bishop’s hat and barrenwort.
• The genus includes 30 to 40 species, as well as many more hybrids and cultivars.
• Epimediums’ native ranges stretch from the Mediterranean to temperate East Asia.
• The plants grow from rhizomes.
• They are suited best to gardens with full shade; high, dappled shade (under trees); or morning sun with afternoon shade.
• Epimediums tend to scorch if planted in full sun.
• Plant epimedium along pathways, massed in woodland gardens, in rock gardens, or at the front of mixed beds.
• Most epimediums are hardy within USDA growing zones 5 to 9.

Keep it Alive

• Epimediums prefer soil that is neutral to slightly acidic. They dislike alkaline soil (a pH above 7).
• They tolerate poor soil, but do require good drainage: No soggy feet.
• Water deeply once planted, but when they are established, epimediums are tolerant of dry soil.
• If leaves crisp up in winter, shear them back in late winter or early spring to allow new fresh growth and the flowers to emerge unimpeded.

More about groundcovers see:

• The Garden Decoder: What Is Green Mulch?
• Groundcovers for Every Landscape
• 5 Favorite Lawn Substitutes